Opposite a memorial to the 18-year-old near the Southampton street where he was knifed last year by Vickrum Digwa, 23, Lidia Ksiazek, 50, originally from Poland, broke down in tears as she expressed her anger at the police.

She said: “I would like them to be held accountable for what they did. They completely dismissed what he said, and they moved him around… When I watched that footage, I was so upset. Very upset.”

Police bodycam footage showed Henry telling Hampshire Police officers who handcuffed him that he could not breathe and had been stabbed. An officer can be heard telling him: “I don’t think you have, mate.”

Ms Ksiazek rejected a smile from a police officer making local inquiries as she visited the area to pay her respects. “A policewoman smiled at me, and I said to her, ‘I’m so sorry, but don’t smile at me, because I’m very angry with the police at the moment. Very angry, because you didn’t save him. You didn’t do anything to save this lad.’”

“Maybe his life could have been saved,” the NHS worker, who has been in the UK since 2005, added.

The nurse added that she avoids walking around the city whenever possible. She said: “Generally, I think the country is not safe; you need to watch your back. I don’t leave the house on my own after dark. If I go for a walk, I walk in the daylight. But it’s sad that people need to think that way.”

Ms Ksiazek avoided the protests, as she feared they could turn nasty. She added that any future protests should be peaceful.

She also said she is not satisfied with the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, highlighting her dismay that he wasn’t fast enough to respond.

Under UK law, Sikhs can possess a kirpan, a ceremonial sword or dagger, for religious purposes. Digwa was carrying a small kirpan and a larger blade in a sheath.

Judge William Mousley K.C. explained that Digwa is a member of an order called the Nihang, which has a tradition of having a second knife, or kirpan, which is often fully visible. “You observed that tradition in your everyday life, at work and in public,” the Judge added. “However, it was not a strict requirement; that is borne out by the fact that neither your brother nor father who arrived on the scene after you had stabbed Henry were so dressed.”

The knife that was used to kill Henry was a 21cm Persian blade known as a pesh-kabz. Sikh Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi told the BBC that this is not the ceremonial kirpan carried by people who follow his religion.

Ms Ksiazek said: “I don’t want to sound racist because I’m a foreigner myself in this country, but… why are they allowed to wear knives openly in the street?”

She added that it could give people “the courage” to use a blade.